The best sim racing games for 2023 | FOS Future Lab

It’s a question more and more are asking, as sim racing breaks out from its nerdy subculture chrysalis into the billowing butterfly of real relevance to modern-day racing. It’s where teams go to find their next pros and where the current pros go to wind down and engage with their fans – indeed, just look at how much time F1's current championship protagonists spend racing in the virtual world, from Max Verstappen, to Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and beyond.

It’s also where young generations go to educate themselves on the incredible machinery that’s gone before (when they’re not boning up at Goodwood’s flagship motorsport events). No more justification required, let’s get into it. These are our picks of the very best sim racing games in 2023.

iRacing

iRacing is the daddy, isn’t it? It’s the one that will make even professional digital racers a little bit apprehensive, given how serious the game takes the business of sim racing. Its safety-biased ranking system means there is no room for jokers anywhere other than at the bottom of the pile. Race well and you will be rewarded.

Long in the tooth as it is, as with most PC stalwarts, it’s a case of Trigger’s broom with the amount it’s been successfully nipped, tucked and updated over its decade and a half in service. The professional standards of driving it commands in combination with diligent updates help it retain its place as the digital busman’s holiday to the stars, including Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Neel Jani, Juan Pablo Montoya and many more.

Assetto Corsa

Another long-serving title is Assetto Corsa. Kunos’ do-it-all circuit racer serves as much the racing fans as it does road car enthusiasts with driving physics on a racing wheel that more serious Forza and Gran Turismo players have always pined for. The variety of machinery is solid in the Ultimate Edition version of the game. If you’re on PC, the selection – of cars and locations – is near-on endless, thanks to the dedicated and active modding community. 

The racers are just as dedicated, though the platform lacks the framework of discipline to get the more serious drivers away from those with less discipline and a penchant for contact. At the very least AC is a great game on which to build up your driving skills, if not the very best to partake in racing at the highest level.

Assetto Corsa Competizione

If you want to stay in the Assetto Corsa sphere but want to get a bit more serious, Assetto Corsa Competizione could be the title for you. There is a catch, though. Without DLC, it’s a GT3-centric game. Add-ons bring GT4 and newer GT3 cars in too but there’s a reason Competizione is (proudly) the official game of Blancpain and the GT World Challenge.

Such a narrow focus brings its benefits, with no other game offering the detail and depth of Competizione when it comes to modern GT cars, from driver line-ups to setup adjustments. The more serious nature of the game also brings with it rating-based matchmaking, which is sorely missing from the broader Assetto Corsa title. This game is about as close as living room racers can get to the real GT3 deal. 

Project Cars 2

Project Cars 2 has served diligently as a beloved sim racer for a broader audience than the likes of iRacing for almost six years now and in spite of being delisted for purchase (you can still buy hard copies and it remains fully functional), remains a great point of reference for aspiring sim racers. This is because it is one of only a couple of gateways to a more authentic and unintimidating sim racing experience for console gamers. It represents a significant jump up from the likes of Forza and Gran Turismo without alienating a large portion of those players. Still very much the sim racer of choice for many racing communities, those who got in there early remain loyal.

It has a great selection of tracks and cars, competent dynamics on a racing wheel, day/night cycles and various weather options. Whether your thing is historic sportscars and touring cars, or modern GTs and single-seaters, PC2 has a little something for everyone.

rFactor 2

The rFactor series is a sim racing OG from the last 20 years, with the original developing an enormous cult following thanks to its versatility with modifications. Such was its endurance that the player base made the 2005 entry a tough rival to beat for the sequel on release in 2013.

Happily, the sequel also embraced the wealth of potential in high-quality user contributions. Almost all kinds of cars, almost all eras on almost any track you can think of, such is the beauty of a community-driven title. All you need is the disk space on your PC to hold it all. That, or you’ll need to be picky…

Automobilista

If not getting an entry on this list for its famousness, Automobilista gets tagged in for its commendable dynamics, championed by famous sim racer Jimmy Broadbent. For the sake of a wide-ranging experience, it deserves a download from the discerning PC racer who’s looking to taste as many sim racing flavours as possible. You may well find a dynamic darling in Automobilista, which stands proud still over its sequel.

Automobilista 2 is worth a mention. After a shaky start a number of updates, including to the physics, have improved it over time. There’s potential there for a great game to emerge in the coming years but for now, the original remains the more complete option. 

Gran Turismo 7

Launched in March 2022, the long-awaited long-delayed entry to the Gran Turismo series really stuck the landing with a game that felt like a love letter to motoring history. The handling was a touch too harsh but Polyphony have been entirely proactive in updates to address this – both in terms of inherent driving physics and the tyre models – as well as progression and reward issues. 

A year on, GT7 is an eminently playable, rewarding game that with reassuring support is actually delivering on the hype and promise. In spite of that ‘Real Driving Simulator’ tag line, it’s still more an entry point to sim racing, rather than the iRacing, Assetto Corsa-flavoured destination you’re looking for.

Coming soon: Forza Motorsport (2023)

Though the seasoned sim racers will scoff, the Forza Motorsport franchise has their place. Alongside Gran Turismo, it's the AAA entry point into a world that gets ever-more niche the deeper you go. Everyone started out on one of them, at least in the last decade, so cut ‘em some slack. More to the point, there are brand spanking new entries in both of these franchises – one out for a year now in the excellent Gran Turismo 7 and one coming soon in the Forza reboot. GT promised and delivered stunning graphics, an engrossing career, good physics and GT nostalgia and has received superb DLC, patches and updates over the last year. Forza promises more of the same, when it eventually arrives.

Coming soon: Assetto Corsa 2 (2024-2025)

It's a long way out – years perhaps – but the first signs of life in terms of a sequel to the beloved Kunoz-developed sim racer are there. It's officially on the way, albeit for a release no earlier than 2024 by our rough estimations. We don't know anything about it, only that the devs are reasonably aware of fan expectations for the game, as a follow-up to what came before. Not relevant now but definitely worth keeping on the radar.

So those are our sim racer picks for 2023. Do you agree, disagree? Is there anything we missed? Let us know.

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